I'll look into this further, we certainly want to comply with any state regulations. As far as I know "importing" refers to products coming in from outside the country, and since we are an Illinois business I believe the purchase is considered interstate commerce so the regulations passed by California for their businesses do not apply (see The Commerce Clause Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution). I will take a closer look though. While I figure that out, I will say that we have several happy customers in California currently using either the Etch or our wallet made from the same leather.

Calmonte - the rest of this isn't directed at you specifically, but I would be remiss if I didn't provide everyone with more info on why we chose kangaroo leather given that the subject of the ban has come up.

I'd like to take a moment to address this ban, and some of the press around kangaroo leather for anyone who happens to be reading this. We actually chose this leather specifically because we believe the environmental and animal treatment story is far better than most leather products. We looked at the issue very closely and found very little evidence to support any of the negative claims about the industry. Here's our thought process:

1. Most leather comes from large-scale cattle farming. A process which, in the US, means very low quality of life for the animals, and negative impact on the local environment. Packing large numbers of animals into a small space means loss of habitat for local wildlife and pollution because the land is not able to support the large animal populations.

2. By contrast, the kangaroo industry is very similar to whitetail deer here in the United States, except at a larger volume due to their overwhelmingly large population. The animals live their whole life in their natural habitat, in balance with the local ecosystem. The Australian government closely monitors the population (which has been known to double in a single year) and issues hunting licenses to keep the animals from over populating and eradicating their own food source. The net result is much less environmental impact and much higher quality of life for the animals than the vast majority of leather available.

3. We have a deep respect for those who choose to avoid animal products entirely, and we take environmental responsibility very seriously as I hope is apparent by the amount of thought we put into our materials choices. But, based on our research, if someone is going to use leather products, kangaroo is actually one of the best options available. Not to mention that its design properties, including more longevity than cowhide shaved to the same thickness, mean longer product life, fewer purchases, and less material consumed over time.

4. Here in the US we see kangaroo as an exotic, cute, and perhaps rare animal due simply to its distance and our lack of interaction with it. This has led to a few people with large followings making noise about the use of kangaroo products. In Australia however, where people are more familiar with the animal's population level, dangerous behavior, and other facts about the species - these misconceptions are not present. In fact, there is a growing community of Australians who only eat plant products and kangaroo meat (kangatarians, similar to pescatarians here in the US) because of the exceptionally low environmental profile of the kangaroo industry.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, more info can be found below for anyone interested: